In honor of spring cleaning and green cleaning, here is our BEST CLEANING TIP EVER!

Do you have yucky food gunk stuck to the inside walls of your microwave? Put away the harsh chemicals, and try this method of cleaning it out:

1. Open your microwave

2. Fill a microwave safe mug with water. Most ceramic mugs are microwave safe, if they don’t have a gold or metallic design. Pyrex 2-cup measuring cups work for this too. Fill it about 3/4 of the way.

3. Place the mug in the center of the microwave.

4. Close the microwave door.

5. Turn on the microwave for 6 minutes. Water will steam and bubble.

6. When 6 minutes is up, open the microwave and using an OVEN MITT remove the mug. Be careful, it will be hot!

7. The steam from the mug has now loosened the gunk on the microwave. Wipe it clean with whatever cloth you usually clean with.

8. Enjoy tea or hot cocoa in your already filled mug of hot water to reward yourself for a job well done!

Now go teach this to every bachelor and college kid you know…

Warning - this pie is in no way, shape, or form good for you. But it is GOOD! If you love chocolate with peanut butter, you’ll love this pie!

Ingredients

Graham Cracker Pie Crust

Chocolate Bottom Layer:

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (ours are Sunspire organic chocolate chips)

1 TB butter

3 tsp water

1/4 cup powdered sugar

Peanut Butter Filling:

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar (not raw sugar, but white or brown sugar.)

1 cup all natural peanut butter

12 oz. can of spray whipped cream (or 8 oz. Cool Whip, but the can has no added oils)

Chocolate Topping:

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 TB butter

4 tsp skim milk

Directions

To make sure our pie would fit in the crust, we found a 10-inch pie crust, instead of the usual 9-inch (it was a Keebler Ready Crust).

1. In a small saucepan over low heat melt 1/2 cup chocolate chips with 1 TB butter and water, stirring constantly until smooth.
2. Stir in powdered sugar until well blended.

3. Spread mixture over bottom and up sides of graham cracker pie crust very gently with rubber spatula, being careful not to break crust.
4. Refrigerate.

5. In medium saucepan, combine 1 cup butter with sugar (we tried raw turbanado sugar and it did not work for this recipe. Use white or brown sugar.) Cook over medium heat until melted and smooth, stirring frequently.
6. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.

7. In a large bowl, beat sugar/butter mixture with peanut butter on low speed until blended.
8. Beat another minute at medium speed.
9. Add 12 oz. whipped cream (we bought a 14 oz. can so we would have extra to decorate with and spray in each others’ mouths.)

10. Beat an additional minute on low speed until smooth and creamy.
11. Pour into crust over chocolate layer.
12. Refrigerate.

13. In small saucepan over low heat, melt 1/2 cup chocolate chips and 1 TB butter and milk, stirring constantly until melted and smooth.
14. Spoon over peanut butter mixture - but don’t plop it all in the middle of the pie. Spoon all around so you only have to spread gently to cover the pie. Otherwise the chocolate and peanut butter layers begin to blend, instead of the chocolate covering the peanut butter.
15. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving, allowing chocolate layer on top to harden.

Serve and enjoy!

Do you eat a lot of trail mix? Go Gaga for Gorp? Sometimes we’ll just mix leftovers in the pantry from cereals, crackers, peanut butter, nuts, dried fruit, etc. But if you want real GORP / Trail mix recipes, check this site out:

http://createagorp.blogspot.com/

 It’s new but growing!